Sunday will be a tough day for music lovers, with three big shows to choose from.
The Lethbridge Folk Club presents their second show of the season, Sunday, Oct, 15 with well-known, Juno Award-winning, Regina-based folk musician Connie Kaldor returning to the Lethbridge College Cave. Since beginning her career in the early ’80s, she has released 14 albums and has headlined folk festivals all over the United States and Canada. The show begins at 8 p.m. sharp. Tickets cost $25 for Folk Club members, $30 for guests including a year membership, $20 for students and $10 for children ages six to 14.
The Geomatic Attic also features their second show of the season as they host United Kingdom dance/pop/world music band the Moulettes who wind down a Canadian tour at the Geomatic Attic, Oct. 15 before returning home. Tickets are $37.50. That show also begins at 8 p.m. sharp.
And classic rock band Foreigner visit the Enmax Centre, Oct, 15, to play a plethora of hits including “Juke Box Hero,” “Head Games,” “Double Vision” “Urgent” and “I Want to Know What Love Is,” to name just a few. Tickets range from $68.50 to $102.25. The show begins at 7 p.m. with Honeymoon Suite opening the show.
In the afternoon, there is the monthly ukulele jam at Casa from 2-3 p.m.
But the fun begins early in the week on Wednesday with October’s Windy City Opry featuring Saskatoon songwriter Zachary Lucky and Calgary’s Kent McAlister, Wednesday, Oct. 11. That show begins at 8 p.m. There is a $10 cover.
The next day starts slow with local pianist James Moore playing a variety of 20th-century piano pieces including African American jazz and multi-lingual vocals. He is at the Taphouse from 7-9 p.m.
The next day Edmonton supergroup Jom Comyn plays the Owl Acoustic Lounge with local musicians Brenna Lowrie and Ghost Woman. Jom Comyn includes members of the Wet Secrets, Lucette, the N3k Trio and Pike.
Admission is by donation. The show begins at 9 p.m.
The Owl is hopping the next day, Oct. 13, The River Jacks’ Spencer Jo returns with Godfrey & Tod. The Slice is about to rock on the weekend as Edmonton’s Tallest to Shortest return to shake the walls, Friday, Oct. 13 with local rock bad the Dirti Speshuls. The next night, Adequate makes things a little funky on Oct 14. There is a $10 cover for that show.
The Slice also has some pretty cool shows happening the next week. Vancouver-based organ-powered rock band Bend Sinister return to the Lethbridge with Vancouver Island blues-influenced rock band the Band of Rascals, Oct. 18. There is a $10 cover for that show as well.
October means Halloween, so get in the spirit a couple of weeks early with a couple of bloody awesome Friday the 13 events. The big one is Dethfest at the Smokehouse, Oct. 13 at 5 p.m., where a cornucopia of death metal, punk and metal bands will be performing throughout the night including local metal bands Extrados and The Avulsion, Medicine Hat sludge metal band Nuclear Oath, Dethgod, Calgary hardcore punk band Citizen Rage, Stab.Twist.Pull, Calgary metal bands, Chaos being Meggido and Calgary punk band World Class White Trash.
Tickets are $20 in advance $25 at the door with the bands beginning at 6 p.m.
The next day, look out for zombies in Galt Gardens as the undead gather for the annual zombie walk. They gather at noon and walk at 3 p.m. So get your bets zombie outfit ready and join the fun.
The Geomatic Attic has another big show on Tuesday, Oct. 17 as Hamilton duo Whitehorse bring a full band to Southminster United Church. They are touring in support of their latest CD “Panther in the Dollhouse.” Tickets are $32.50 or $42.50 with priority seating up close. The show begins at 8 p.m. sharp.
Hamilton-based duo Luke Doucet and Melissa McClelland aka Whitehorse return to Lethbridge, this time with an expanded band in support of their new CD “Panther in the Dollhouse.”
The two multi-instrumentalists will be joined by band mates Gregory MacDonald on keyboards, who also plays with Sloan, Ryan Gavel on guitar and drummer John Obercian.
“It’s a different experience for us. We’ll be joined by the rest of the band in Winnipeg where we start the Canadian part of the tour,” said guitarist/vocalist Luke Doucet, from Chicago, where he and wife Melissa McClelland are touring as a duo.
“The band allows Melissa and I to relax a little bit because we’re usually playing everything,” he said.
“We usually have to be pretty disciplined. But we thought the new music would be best served with a band,” he continued. The band are also on the CD.
“Panther in the Dollhouse” has a more ’90s Brit pop sound, especially Portishead. Their three-year-old son, Jimmy, who often tours with them with the help of their nanny as well as Doucet’s 21-year-old daughter, inadvertently influenced the sound of the new record.
“We’ve been listening to a lot of ’90s pop like Supergrass, Portishead and Blur. And he really likes it a lot. We‘ll pull it up on YouTube and he’ll watch a lot of it. It’s also the best way to keep him quiet in the car,” Doucet continued.
“In Lethbridge we’ll have the full band. It‘s different. We‘ll be playing six or seven songs from the new record. Melissa and myself still like to keep it intimate,” he said.
Whitehorse like to keep things new and fresh by exploring different sounds on each record.
“Response has been really great. People like the juxtaposition of different production and sounds,” he said.
“We like to do different records, really, because we get bored. And we feel we have to try everything while we’re young. If we want to release a jazz record we will or a country record we will. Not that that’s what we‘re going to do. ‘The Northern South’ was a blues album, though it didn’t really sound like it, though they were all old blues songs,” he said. Before that they released French language album.
“A lot of bands like to stick to one sound that works and release the same record 10 times. But that’s not us,” he said.
Whitehorse return to Lethbridge to play Southminster United Church Oct. 17 for the Geomatic Attic. Tickets are $32.50 or $42.50 with priority seating up close.
The show begins at 8 p.m. sharp.
Reviews
Scenic Route to Alaska at the Slice
It was great to see the Slice packed for the return of Edmonton indie rock trio Scenic Route to Alaska, Wednesday, Oct. 4. I missed their last visit early in the year, but was glad I caught their show this time.
They played a solid set of scrappy alt country, indie pop ear worms along the lines of the Jayhawks, though frontman/guitarist Trevor Mann’s plaintive tenor voice sounded a little like a more introspective Myles Goodwyn of April Wine.
Some of their songs sounded vaguely familiar, coming from their previous four albums, but I think a lot of the set was new material. They wound it down around 11 p.m. with crowd favourite “Coming Back.”
They played their new single “Slow Down” in the middle of their set.
Honker’s fundraiser for Waterton fires
The folks at Honker’s Pub were happy to lend a hand to help out people recovering from the wildfires in Waterton Lakes Park. The pub was packed Sept. 30. I only was able to catch a couple of the acts on the bill featuring several familiar faces who play Honker’s Friday and Saturday open stages including Raz Bruce, Jay Pizzingrilli, Aaron Landry and local blues/rock band Driving While Blind and the Jolene Draper band.
I caught a part of Joy Pizzingrilli’s set of classic rock.
Driving While Blind always put on a great show. They added a rock edge to the blues classic “I’m A King Bee” and played some excellent AC DC covers.
The event raised $3,470 through a silent auction, 50/50 draw and beef-on-a-bun sales.
“That’s in addition to the four truckloads of dog and cat food and leashes we sent out when the SPCA put out a call, which is how it all started,” observed Honker’s owner Vicky Vanden Hoek.
“Lethbridge has a big heart,” she continued, adding they are in the midst of forming a committee to decide where the money will be best spent.
“Some people lost cabins and then there are the Alpine Stables. Other people are too shy to come forward,” she continued.
Klusterfunk at the Slice
The first time I saw Vancouver-based jazz and funk-inspired orchestra Five Alarm Funk, I knew they had something special. It must have been Tom Towers’ many costumes. So it is good to know they have inspired other bands like Edmonton’s Klusterfunk, who got a little crazy at the the Slice, Sept. 30 by sounding like a more punk and a lot more drunk Five Alarm Funk, but with a touch more hip hop and a smattering of jazz music with an exotic touch of Cuban jazz.
They drew a lot from Five Alarm Funk, right down to a singing drummer and teasing the audience by opening their set with a few bars of Five Alarm Funk’s “Ice Cream Man,” which they later played in its entirety.
They all had a variety of crazy animal and African-inspired costumes, which you could hardly see because there were no lights on the stage.Their trombonist was dressed in an African-inspired poncho while their keyboardist sported a purple matador jacket. Another drummer/percussionist dressed as some kind of mammal looked like he just stepped out of the Bloodhound Gang’s “Bad Touch” video. And their trumpet player looked like the Cobra villain from the GI Joe cartoons of the ’80s.The guitarist looked like a hep cat pimp in a Tarzan-style leopard print jacket which he later shed as their set progressed.
The played an expected horn-heavy set of toe-tapping funk and R and B music, full of whoops, hollers and plenty of alcohol as one of the 11-piece band was celebrating a birthday.
They were tight and were a heap of fun. “Ay Caramba” was a highlight of the set.
Jay Bowcott at the Owl
Jay Bowcott returned to the Owl Acoustic Lounge Sept. 30 to entertain a crowd escaping the relentless wall of oom pah pah music emanating from Oktoberfest at Galt Galt Gardens.
Usually the Medicine Hat-raised musician performs as part of Enslow with drummer Brady Enslen, but he had a different drummer for this show. Bowcott plaid his usually strong set of country tinged rock and folk music. But he ended his first set with an outstanding version of blues classic “Crossroads Blues.”
Oktoberfest
Just like everyone becomes Irish for a day on St. Patrick’s Day, Oktoberfest allows everyone to tap into their inner fun-loving, lederhosen-wearing, beer-drinking, accordion and tuba-inspired German. So Lethbridgians got two days to let loose during Oktoberfest in Galt Gardens, Sept. 29 and 30.
The park was packed with revellers drinking German beer, the smell of barbecued brats wafted through the air and German music blasting through downtown from several bands though I only caught the accordion and tuba of Calgary’s Alpen Schatz, who in addition to shouting and yodelling their way through a set of high energy German traditional polkas, also played a pretty cool brassy version of Johny Cash’s Ring of Fire during their Friday night set.
MomBod/Faps at the Owl
A trip of popular local female personalities joined their musical forces to open a fun-filled night at the Owl Acoustic Lounge, Sept. 29. MomBod aka drummer/vocalist Amberlea Parker, bassist/vocalist Silvana Campus and guitarist/vocalist Mandy Fox played a strong set of ’90s riot Grrrrl/grunge and garage rock-influenced fem-positive original music along the lines of more modern bands like the Shiverettes along with touches of Hole and L7. Fox’s tortured wail rang through the room as her bandmates shouted background vocals, though all three got to sing lead. I missed a second set from local duo Cope, but arrived back in time for Saskatoon duo the Faps, including guitarist/vocalist Skyler Cafferata and drummer/vocalist Blair Colwell for an intense set of energetic, noisy, scrappy alternative rock.
Chevelles for Lethbridge Girls Rock Camp
The Chevelles are always happy to lend their musical talents for a good cause. They took the stage at Average Joe’s Sept. 29 to help out the Lethbridge Girls Rock Camp, who had a lot of musical equipment and instruments stolen. But frontman Tim Carter noted it was just as important help them replace the stolen instruments as it is to raise awareness about the annual summer camp in which girls 18 and under spend a week together in June learning how to play a musical instrument, write songs and form a band to perform a show by the end of the week.
The Chevelles know all about that as they have provided the soundtrack to many a raucous party for more than 20 years.
This set included several Beatles songs including “Get Back” and “Come Together” plus the “Sounds of Silence,” and party favourites like “Born to be Wild” and Neil Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline,” which of course had the enthusiastic crowd singing along.
The event raised close to $1,000 to help rebuild their instrument collection, though the sad news of the theft has also brought several people forward to donate instruments
Luke Dowler at the Slice
The Slice welcomed Montana-based alt country/rock and roller Luke Dowler to play Sept, 29. The trio played a set of gritty originals and even turned Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean” on its ear into a country song with a nice, bluesy solo, which drew cheers from the sparse audience.
They sounded like a more bluesy Kings of Leon.